Friends
by Kyrandis
Summary: They were friends, nothing more. Oneshot.


**A/N: Another rewrite. This one was originally titled "Insert Witty Title Here" and was written in December 2008 as a Christmas gift-fic for one of my friends. She wanted something JayCinder. This is really more friendship, but it's still JayCinder if you squint. I didn't have to change as much in this fic. It was mostly editing and rewriting a few parts, but I still think it's better than the original. x)**

**DISCLAIMER: No, I don't own Warriors. Or the characters, for that matter.**

* * *

_**Friends**_

Jaypaw yawned, bored out of his mind, as he pushed yet another shriveled herb into his stack. Leafpool, had gone out collecting herbs, leaving her apprentice to sort through their current stock and pick out the old, shriveled plants so they could be disposed of. It was far from laborious work, but it was definitely tedious, to Jaypaw, at least. Idly he wondered if he should sneak out of camp, leaving his task half-completed, simply to spite Leafpool. The apprentice snickered inwardly at the very thought.

A wild rustling pulled him from his thoughts as a cat burst into the den. Jaypaw scented the air, immediately identifying the scent. "Can I help you, Cinderheart?" he sighed.

"Hi, Jaypaw!" the young she-cat greeted cheerfully. "Oh, it's not much; I just got a thorn in my pad while I was out hunting."

Jaypaw's tail twitched slightly. _Is that really something to be happy about? _he wondered. _Then again, she's been in a great mood ever since she earned her warrior name. _And who could blame her, knowing what she had gone through before finally becoming a warrior? Something as minor as a thorn couldn't get her down. "Okay, let's see your paw," he ordered, ignoring the fact that he was blind.

Cinderheart obediently lifted up one of her front paws off the ground. Jaypaw leaned forward and licked her paw pad, feeling for the thorn. He located it, got a firm grip between his teeth, and pulled, feeling the thorn come out. After spitting the thorn out onto the floor in the corner of the den, he retreated to the back of the den to get cobwebs, returning in time to hear Cinderheart sigh.

"What is it now?" he grumbled.

"The sunset is so beautiful," Cinderheart replied. "I wish you could see it, Jaypaw."

Jaypaw's pelt prickled with impatience. _There she goes, off on another tangent, _he thought. Still, unlike the other cats, Cinderheart didn't tiptoe around his blindness or pity him for it, for which he was extremely grateful. He was tired of everyone feeling sorry for him when there was nothing to be sorry _about._ Realizing that Cinderheart was waiting for him to answer, he replied, "I wish I could see it, too." _Anything to get you to shut up! Can't you see I have work to do? _It wasn't that he _wanted _to sort through herbs. On the contrary, he would have loved nothing more than to be freed from this boring task. However, Leafpool would more than likely get upset with him if he didn't finish by the time she returned. He wrapped the cobwebs around Cinderheart's paw. "There, you're done," he meowed, then added, "Look I have a lot of work to do, so—"

"Jaypaw!"

Jaypaw huffed and lashed his tail in annoyance, recognizing the voice. _What's _she _doing here?_

"Hi, Willowpaw," Cinderheart mewed.

"Willowshine," the RiverClan cat corrected smugly.

"Oh! Congratulations!"

"Thanks. Where's Leafpool?"

"Out collecting herbs," Jaypaw answered brusquely, trying not to spit the words out.

"...Oh."

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

"Well? What do you want?" Jaypaw asked after a moment.

Willowshine hesitated. "Er...well..."

Jaypaw narrowed his eyes and reached with his mind towards Willowshine's. He drew in a sharp breath, unprepared for the rush of thoughts that flowed freely into him. Reminding himself that Willowshine never guarded her thoughts, he gently probed her mind.

"You had a sign from StarClan?" he asked.

Willowshine was obviously startled. "How did you know?"

Jaypaw simply shrugged and replied, "Why else would you come? It's greenleaf, so you shouldn't be lacking any herbs." He sensed a brief movement from Willowshine and guessed that the medicine cat had shot Cinderheart a doubtful glance. Clearly, she was reluctant to speak of such a matter with the ThunderClan warrior in her presence.

"Why didn't you ask Mothwing about the sign?" Cinderheart asked curiously.

"Because Mothwing doesn't be—" Willowshine stopped abruptly, then said, "I mean, she's not sure about what the sign means and wanted Leafpool's opinion..."

Jaypaw wanted to bang his head against a tree in his frustration. "Leafpool won't be back until late," he lied smoothly; actually, his mentor was due to return very soon—all the more reason to get Willowshine out of here as quickly as he could.

"Okay," Willowshine sighed, sounding upset. She padded out of the den.

_Now to get Cinderheart out of here, _Jaypaw thought, _and then I can _finally _have some peace—until Leafpool returns._

"Hey, Jaypaw?" Cinderheart mewed hesitantly.

Jaypaw rolled his eyes and practically screeched, "What _now?"_

"Uh...well, the thing is...Willowshine—"

"Left," Jaypaw finished impatiently. He sighed wearily and started to ask Cinderheart to leave, but froze as the sound of pawsteps heralded the arrival of one—no, two—cats in the medicine cat den.

There was the sound of plants dropping to the ground, then Leafpool spoke, her voice cold. "Jaypaw? What's this I hear about you telling Willowshine I wouldn't be back until late? I told you I'd be back at sunset, not moonhigh!"

"I lost track of time?" Jaypaw suggested lamely.

Leafpool sighed her all-too familiar 'Jaypaw-I-know-you're-up-to-something' sigh, but when she spoke, she evaded the subject and simply meowed, "Never mind. If you and Cinderheart could step out of the den for a minute...?"

"Fine," grumbled Jaypaw, stalking out of the den, Cinderheart following close behind. Settling down just outside, the apprentice strained his ears, trying to hear Willowshine and his mentor as they spoke in hushed tones.

"It's rude to eavesdrop," Cinderheart pointed out.

Jaypaw shrugged indifferently, but, uncomfortable under Cinderheart's gaze, meowed, "Maybe I'll go to the Moonpool."

"Can I come, too?"

Jaypaw winced. _Not the answer I expected. _"Or...maybe not," he said decidedly, tail flicking. "Leafpool's upset with me enough as it is," he added quickly, sensing that Cinderheart was about to argue.

"Oh, okay." There was a brief moment of silence, then, "Can we go to the lake? I want to swim!"

Jaypaw's whiskers twitched in amusement. "At this rate, you're going to turn into a RiverClan cat," he teased. Actually, he did want to get out of camp and away from his duties. He also wanted to get out of Leafpool's way; he guessed that his mentor would probably be in a foul mood after hearing about his behavior towards Willowshine, and he welcomed the opportunity to postpone the scolding he would inevitably receive tonight. "Okay, let's go," he agreed.

"Great!"

Jaypaw started following Cinderheart out of camp when Leafpool's voice came from across the clearing. "Jaypaw!"

The apprentice's heart plummeted at the call. Groaning, he halted and turned around, waiting for his mentor to trot over to them before meowing with fake politeness, "Yes, Leafpool?"

"I need you to finish sorting through the herbs," Leafpool explained. "Where were you two going?"

"Down to the lake," Cinderheart answered. "I wanted to swim."

Jaypaw could picture Leafpool's eyes narrowing as she meowed slowly, "But your leg has healed. You don't need Jaypaw with you anymore."

After a pause, Cinderheart responded, "I...guess I'll go alone, then. Bye, Jaypaw," she added, flicking her tail at the apprentice as she left.

Though he couldn't see, Jaypaw let his blank gaze follow Cinderheart.

"Be careful where your affections fall," Leafpool murmured in his ear.

Jaypaw bristled angrily at the words. "I don't _love _her!" he spat, stung by the accusation. Her words sounded like an echo; they were oddly familiar, though he couldn't remember ever hearing Leafpool saying them before. Shrugging it off, he added, more calmly, "We're just friends, that's all." He glared angrily at Leafpool. Sometimes her emotions were hard to understand, which frustrated him. At least _Cinderheart _was always friendly at straightforward. She had asked him outright about his blindness, wondering if it handicapped him, and easily accepted his answer that it didn't—blindness was natural for him, just as seeing was natural for her. No one had ever treated him like that before—no one, except for Cidnerheart.

Jaypaw realized that Leafpool was staring at him suspiciously. "We're just friends," he growled again. He repeated that in his mind as he stalked back to the medicine cat den. Yes, he was fond of Cinderheart, but he didn't love her. They were just friends. Nothing less, nothing more. And that was how it always would be.


End file.
